Thursday, September 6, 2012

Royal Gorge Bridge & Park

With all the crowds back to work after the holiday weekend and a substantial early bird discount, we hightailed it over to Royal Gorge first thing this morning. This sign makes me chuckle.

On the side road leading to the Gorge, we were watching and hoping to see deer since there were so many signs about them. Then I noticed this, walking down the road toward us. Rich got out and took several photos; the tarantula would pause then continue walking toward him. You can probably tell from this photo that it was really steppin' out! Then I got out and shot a movie of him walking beside me but, again, I can't upload from here...grrrr

Okay...on to Royal Gorge Bridge & Park. In 1963 my family came to Colorado on vacation and this is one of the spots we visited, but Rich had never been to the Gorge.

The deck is still made of wooden planks laid side by side. You can drive across it but I can't imagine why any able-bodied person would miss the opportunity to gaze at the wonder of it all...the gorge, the bridge, the surrounding mountains, the bighorn sheep (yes, we did see a few from the Bridge!), the state flags and so much more.

Rich noticed this sign and you have to wonder as you laugh at it. Have people actually tried to fish from the Bridge when the Arkansas River is a thousand feet below and the bottom of the canyon is only 40 to 50 feet wide...too funny. But there were no other "funny" signs on the Bridge.

Here we are at the south end of the bridge after walking across from the Park.

Here's something else you can do with your dogs when you visit Colorado, take them with you on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. This is a scenic train ride out of Canon City that travels through the Gorge, then backs out on its return to the station in town. Looking down, this looks like a model railroad, doesn't it?

Looking east...

Looking west...

After we walked back across the bridge, we rode the Incline Railway to the bottom of the Gorge. We are descending 1,550 feet at a 45 degree angle...

...standing up in these cars.

At the bottom, we are standing just above the Arkansas River.

While we were down there, the Royal Gorge Route train came through, backing its way out. Look closely and you can glimpse a few of the people who were standing in an open car for the ride through the Gorge. In this shot you can clearly see that the bottom of the Gorge is very narrow.

There is an abundance of quartz in this area and large pieces have been used to construct beautiful, low, decorative walls throughout the Park.

Check out this display of instruments that not only tell you the time, they also tell you the year, month, season, and day.

After dinner back at the RV, when Rich took the girls out for their evening walk, he called me outside to see the gorgeous evening sky.